Driver rams officers, killing 1, near Capitol
Suspect, 25, shot dead while holding a knife
WASHINGTON— A Capitol Police officer was killed Friday after a man rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the U.S. Capitoland then emerged wielding a knife. It was the second line-ofduty death this year for a department still struggling to heal from theJan. 6 violence at the Capitol.
Video shows the driver of the crashed car emerging with a knife in his hand and starting to run at the pair of officers, Capitol Police acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters. Authorities shot the suspect,who died at a hospital.
“I just ask that the public continue to keep U.S. Capitol Police and their families in your prayers,” Chief Pittman said. “This has been an extremely difficult time for U.S. Capitol Police after the events of Jan. 6 and now the events that have occurred here today.”
Police identified the slain officer as William “Billy” Evans, an 18-year veteran who was a member of the department’s first responders unit.
Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that investigators initially believed the suspect stabbed one of the officers, but it was later unclear whether the knife actually made contact, in part because the vehicle struck the officers with such force. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spokeon condition of anonymity.
Authorities said there wasn’t an ongoing threat, though the Capitol was put on lockdown for a time as a
precaution. There was also no immediate connection apparent between Friday’s crash andthe Jan. 6 riot.
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as 25year-old Noah Green. Investigators were digging into his background and examining whether he had any mental health history as they tried to discern a motive.They were also working to obtain warrants to access his online accounts.
Chief Pittman said the suspect did not appear to have been on the police’s radar. But the attack underscored that the building and campus — and the officers charged with protecting them — remain potential targets for violence.
Mr. Green described himself as a follower of the Nation of Islam and its founder, Louis Farrakhan, and spoke of going through a difficult time where he leaned on his faith, according to recent messages posted online that have since been taken down. The messages were captured by the group SITE, which tracks online activity.
“To be honest these past few years have been tough, and these past few months have been tougher,” he wrote. “I have been tried with some of the biggest, unimaginable tests in my life. I am currently now unemployed after I left my job partly due to afflictions, but ultimately, in search of a spiritual journey.”
President Joe Biden said in a statement that he and his wife were heartbroken to learn of the attack and expressedcondolences to Officer Evans’ family. He directed flags at the White House to be loweredto half-staff.
The crash and shooting happened at a security checkpoint near the Capitol typically used by senators and staff on weekdays, though most were away from the building for the current recess. The attack occurred about 100 yards from the entrance of the building on the Senate side of the Capitol. One witness, the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, said he was finishing a Good Friday service nearby when he heard three shotsring out.
The Washington region remains on edge nearly three months after a mob loyal to former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol as Congress was voting to certify Mr.Biden’s presidential win.
Five people died in the Jan. 6 riot, including Capitol Police
Officer Brian Sicknick, who was among a badly outnumbered force trying to fight off the intruders seeking to overturn the election. Authorities installed a tall perimeter fence around the Capitol and for months restricted traffic along the roads closest to the building, but they had begun pullingback some of the emergency measures. Fencing that prevented vehicular traffic near that area was only recentlyremoved.
Officer Evans was the seventh Capitol Police member to die in the line of duty in the department’s history, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks law enforcement deaths. In addition, two officers — one from Capitol Police and another from Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department — died by suicide following the Jan. 6 riot.
Almost 140 Capitol Police officers were wounded in that attack, according to the officers’ union. It took hours for the National Guard to arrive — a delay that has driven months of finger-pointing betweenkey decision-makers.
Capitol Police and National Guard troops were called upon soon afterward to secure the Capitol during Mr. Biden’s inauguration and faced another potential threat in early March linked to conspiracy theories falsely claiming Mr. Trump would retakethe presidency.